Asked About Issue with Son Pulling Double-Duty as Campaign Manager & Lobbyist, Senator Said: “I don’t even understand why that would be a question”
The DSCC has launched new digital ads to highlight the conflicts of interest at the heart of Senator Roy Bunt’s reelection campaign: Blunt’s son Andy is pulling double duty as campaign manager while continuing his work as an active lobbyist for big corporate clients in Missouri. The ads will appear on Twitter and Facebook.
The Blunts have been the subject of well-deserved scrutiny for the unique arrangement that government ethics experts have called “troublesome.” While Blunt infamously ignored legitimate questions related to his son’s lucrative and expanding business – Andy added seven clients in the first three weeks of this year alone– the Senator couldn’t avoid the subject in a recent interview with a KMOX Missouri:
REPORTER: Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri facing questions on the campaign trial of a possible conflict of interest involving his son.
REPORTER: Blunt has been ducking the issue at other public appearances and didn’t want to talk us about it. His son, Andy, is a lobbyist and his campaign manager.
BLUNT: I don’t even understand why that would be a question, why the conflict of interest that my son is my campaign manager. Is that because —
REPORTER: He’s also a lobbyist.
BLUNT: Well, everybody’s, everybody’s family does something.
The DSCC digital ads focus on Blunt’s comments and will make sure Missouri voters have the facts about the Blunt family’s deep lobbyist ties.
“In an election year as tough as this one, you’d think Senator Blunt would try to hide from his well-known reputation as a Washington insider but he doesn’t want to forfeit the powerful and profitable connections he’s made,” said Lauren Passalacqua, DSCC National Press Secretary. “The fact that Senator Blunt can’t recognize why his lobbyist connections are a problem shows how out-of-touch he’s become from Missouri. We’ll make sure voters know why it’s time to elect a senator committed to their families.”
